Ernest Torrence

Ernest Torrence was a Scottish film character actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, including Broken Chains with Colleen Moore, Mantrap with Clara Bow and Fighting Caravans with Gary Cooper and Lili Damita. A towering figure, Torrence frequently played coldeyed and imposing villains.

He was born Ernest TorranceThomson to Colonel Henry Torrence Thayson and Jessie onJune 1878, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and as a child was an exceptional pianist and operatic baritone and graduated from the Stuttgart Conservatory, Edinburgh Academy before earning a scholarship at Londons Royal Academy of Music. He toured with the DOyly Carte Opera Company in such productions as The Emerald Isle and The Talk of the Town before disarming vocal problems set in and he was forced to abandon this career path.

Source: Wikipedia